The competition is open to any poet who writes in English. Previously published poems with proper acknowledgment are acceptable. Translations and previously self-published books are not eligible.

Poets should submit twenty to thirty pages (no more than one poem per page) plus SASE for contest results and $25 reading fee. Manuscripts should be on good quality white paper, paginated consecutively, with a table of contents and acknowledgments and bound with a clip. Include two cover pages, one with the title of the manuscript alone, and a second with your name, address, phone number, and email address, together with the title. Your name must not appear anywhere else on the manuscript.

Entries must be postmarked by November 30, 2010.

No UPS or FedEx. You may include a SASE postcard for confirmation. Manuscripts will not be returned. Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are permitted, but Codhill Press must be notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

Codhill Press is committed to safeguarding the integrity of its contest. You should not enter if you have studied with the judge or received her help in shaping a manuscript. Similarly, in order to avoid any impropriety, the judge is instructed to set aside any manuscript she has had a hand in creating. Codhill subscribes to the CLMP contest code of ethics, and agrees to

1. conduct our contest as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors;

2. provide clear and specific contest guidelines–defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and

3. make the mechanics of the selection process available to the public.

Other things to consider:
Before you submit a manuscript to the Codhill competition, please read the work of the poets we publish. We publish a diversity of approaches, from the formal to the openly experimental. Codhill has published books by poets in academe and by poets having no connection to academics. We have published books that are accessible and ones that are abstract and demanding–and the range between. All publications rely on vivid language use, a musicality, technique, importance of content, and a willingness to take risks.